


lunar tears (falling from my eyes)

by pastelpetals



Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: (mentioned) 6O, (mentioned) Devola, (mentioned) Popola, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-22 05:13:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11960430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastelpetals/pseuds/pastelpetals
Summary: This cannot continue.





	lunar tears (falling from my eyes)

**Author's Note:**

> beta'd by myself
> 
> Takes place some time after finishing Emil's quest and Adam's boss battle.
> 
> Potential spoilers?? I'm not too sure;;;; Also, I'm exercising creative liberties with what I know from watching people play, so please don't be offended by any inaccuracies! ;v; If I had the money, I'd definitely throw it at this game.

It has been no longer than a month, and yet, like clockwork, he has come to love her again. His affection flourishes as his life withers, and it makes for such an unfortunate juxtaposition.

_This cannot continue._

It has been no longer than a year, and yet, like clockwork, she has come to bloody her hands again. Her resolve hardens as her heart wavers, and it makes for such a riveting tragedy.

_This cannot continue._

Every time, he calls her designation through choked breath and pained eyes. Every time, with his dying breath, he forgives her.

_This cannot continue._

Tears and oil and synthetic blood become one as they carve rivulets down his pale cheeks and pool over their conjoined hands. Hers are shaking over the pommel of her sword, and his are steady despite everything.

_This cannot continue._

Each encounter is different, but the first is always what she remembers. The smell of scorched metal, the crisp forest air, his fading warmth, her desperate apologies, their unending tears. After that time was when she swore to never look in his eyes as he perished.

_This cannot continue._

The chanting of the machines eats at her mind, long after they have been defeated.

On the bed beside hers, 9S has slipped into sleep mode after a particularly grueling hacking session, his blindfold thrown haphazardly on the nightstand. She smiles, full and affectionate, at his incoherent mumbling, with a mental note to berate him on his hasty shut down. For now, she leaves him to his rest as she rises from her own bed with her blanket around her shoulders, her thin, YoRHa-issued nightgown failing to banish the chill. After instructing her Pod to stay behind in order to relay her whereabouts to 9S, should he wake before she returns, she steps into the fresh air, Virtuous Contract at her back.

Outside, the Resistance camp is mostly quiet, save for a few androids working into the night. She greets them respectively as she passes, not with a curt nod as she normally does but with a soft "hello" that makes her more akin to the girl she looks than the soldier she is. Devola and Popola are included, and while the latter comments on the pleasant surprise, the former smirks and asks if the late hours have made her sentimental. She shakes her head amusedly and takes her leave as Popola chides her sister for her manners.

With Emil's key in hand, she heads towards the Commercial District and makes quick work of the few low-leveled enemies that stand in her path. Before departing, Emil had requested that the elevators to his special place be locked if it was not in use. He explained how he did not wish for any harm to come to the lunar tears, accidental or not, and how this protectiveness might have stemmed from the original Emil. Of course, they were welcome to it, since they had helped him regain much of his memories, and they had proven themselves the trustworthy sort.

She had recently accepted his offer, taken with the flowers and the peace that seemed to emanate from their gentle glow. Coupled with the secluded atmosphere of the cave, the privacy it offered was an ideal place for her to sort her thoughts and drop the walls that she so conscientiously held. Perhaps Devola had been right; the late hours must have caused her to become dewy-eyed.

The doors open with an ear-splitting screech, and the scenery is breathtaking, like always. The panoramic pictures she had begun sending to 6O, as per the operator's request, could not even begin to capture the ambience of the place. Stepping out of her boots and setting Virtuous Contract as well as her neatly-folded blanket nearby, her feet navigate around the flowers before finding a bare patch large enough for her to lay in. Just as her eyes flutter shut, a voice speaks.

"So this is where you were, 2B." A pair of quiet footsteps stop at her side, and 2B can hear the rustling of his own nightwear as he lays beside her. His hand finds her own, a contented hum escaping him.

"How did you gain access?" she asks quietly. Her eyes stray to him. "I had the key."

"Aw, the locking mechanism isn't so hard to hack once it's been unsecured," 9S dismisses. He coughs and adds embarrassedly: "If it weren't for our Pods, this was the last place I would have thought to check."

"I see," she replies. "I admit that I'm not usually one for frivolities, but exceptions can be made. After all, I tolerate your chattering quite frequently despite mission inefficiency."

"Hey!" 9S turns on his side to face her before poking her cheek playfully. "That's not fair! I've never heard you complain!" 

2B chuckles and swats his hand away. "On the contrary," she laughs. "I've brought up the issue numerous times, but you merely feigned ignorance. So I learned to accept it. Begrudgingly, might I add."

"Oh, c'mon, I'm not that bad!" he whined.

"You can be worse than my operator sometimes," 2B snorts. 

"Which is why 6O and I get along swimmingly, don't you think?" he comments cheekily.

She rolls her eyes. "Which is why I often leave you two to your own devices, with disastrous results," she repartees dryly.

9S giggles, his expression soft in the fluorescence of lunar tears. He picks the closest one to him, despite 2B's warning, and tucks it into her hair. His eyes search hers, and seemingly pleased with what he finds, closes them with a gentle smile.

"Emil will be upset if he finds that you've plucked one," she murmurs. Yet her hand goes to the fauna in her alabaster locks, a faint blush splashed on her cheeks.

"I'd make you a flower crown if I could," he whispers in return. "I read that it was a human custom to make one and present it to someone precious to you. It meant different things to different people, but ultimately, it symbolizes love, devotion, and eternity."

"Oh, that sounds..."

"Frivolous?" 9S teases, cracking his eyes open. He breaks into an expectant grin, anticipating a lecture on how unnecessary it was. 

Instead, he swears his black-box stops when she graces him with the most adoring and awed expression that he knows he will never forget. "...No, it sounds _wonderful_ , Nines. Thank you."

He gapes at her then, disbelieving, and she chuckles, "What is it?"

"N-Nothing! It's just... I've never seen you so open before. It's nice. And… And you called me _Nines_." 9S grins in a way that only endears him to her more, and genuine laughter passes through her lips. 

"Don't get used to it," she warns half-heartedly.

"To which part?"

"Hmm?"

"2-B...!"

All of it, she wants to say. She honestly does not know why she allowed herself this intimacy, but she knows that she has endangered both of them. It would be more than difficult when the time came to part.

9S rolls on his side to face her fully, beaming sleepily. His eyelashes barely skim the top of his cheeks, an indication of how long they have been here. Allowing herself to indulge in his warmth a moment more, she rises, to mumbled protests, and scoops him in her arms.

"'M not a kid," he grumbles. "Can— Can walk back m'self." 

"You wouldn't make it halfway." 2B shakes her head fondly. "Enter rest mode, Nines. I've got you."

"Mm," he breathes. "Thank...you, 2-B." 

And deep in her consciousness, though androids might not fully comprehend the concept of love, she knows what she feels for him is something akin to it, and that is enough for her. Granting him a kiss on the forehead, she mentally urges him to think on this night as nothing more than a dream.

_This cannot continue._

Tomorrow, she will become distant once more as they resume their mission. She is no fool. She does not deserve him. She knows this sort of tenderness has no place in a battlefield. She knows that it would impair mission efficiency, and she was built to serve, not for such trivial things. Besides, she knows better than to let emotions fester. Above all, the mission, she admonishes herself.

_This cannot continue._

Still, she keeps the lunar tear in her hair, as a reminder of what was never hers to lose. 

_This cannot continue._

The next morning, she receives the execution order from command. It is time again. She makes it strong and swift, Virtuous Contract plunged through his chest to the hilt. She wonders if this is a mercy for both of them, his instant death. When she dislodges her weapon with gasping breaths and quivering hands, she finds that she has cleaved his black-box clean in two.

 _This cannot continue._  

The voice inside her screams.

 

**Author's Note:**

> listen,,,, i love 2B so much,,,,  
> tbh this entire game is a freaking masterpiece lol
> 
> I played Nier: Gestalt and fell in love so you can imagine how absolutely wrecked I was when I saw all the lunar tears and heard Kainé Salvation. (Don't even get me started on Devola and Popola's story.)
> 
> As a sidenote, this is the first piece that I've been pleased with in quite some time! I've recently been trying to get back into writing, so sorry if I seem rusty! 
> 
> Thanks for reading!! :D 
> 
> P.S. "Birth of a Wish" is such a lit boss theme, srsly


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